“I have seen the light, and the light is good,” said Shahani as he took the stage at the Bell Harbor Conference Center in Seattle for the 16th annual University of Washington Business Plan Competition awards dinner.

The light, of course, is startup life. However, Shahani never really saw himself as a “startupper” per se.

“I don’t really think of myself as an entrepreneur. I’m just a dude who started his business. It is crazy, because most of you in here are either in college or recently out of college, and you are just a dude or dude-ette just like doing some stuff, right? And, it’s crazy because you realize, and I’ve had this experience over the last six years, where you realize that entrepreneurship is a platform. It is a platform for your life. I am not talking about a job, or talking about this thing that you are going to do. I’m talking about your life. And that platform, lets you do literally whatever you want. And it’s crazy. If you want to change the world, as an entrepreneur, you can do that.”

Kabir Shahani

The great thing about Shahani is that he speaks without a filter. And that filter was off on Thursday night as he described some of the down times in his life, including when he struggled to raise venture capital for Appature (noting that some of the VCs at the dinner turned him down. Check out the funny interaction with VC Bill McAleer in minute 19 in audio clip below).

Shahani also noted the importance of luck.

“As an entrepreneur, you have to rely on luck. Honestly, being an entrepreneur, in my opinion, is 95 percent luck; four percent knowing when to recognize it; and one percent hard work. I mean, that’s the equation.”

You can listen to the entire talk below, including a funny intro by nearly-50-year-old startup lawyer Craig Sherman as well as Shahani ribbing me (in minute 9) for taking his photo during the remarks. Shahani also spoke of the devastation he felt after getting fired from his first startup, noting that he fell into a “deep depression” (Minute 12); how he lived on bootstrapper wage of $22,000 in his first year at Appature (minute 17); and when things got “really, really shity” during the so-called “dip” period when VCs ignored him (minute 19).

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